Waterloo’s top doc weighs in on rapid testing in schools, expanded access to booster shots
Posted Oct 1, 2021 08:15:00 PM.
Local health officials are weighing in on the issues of rapid COVID-19 testing in schools and whether we should be expanding access to booster shots.
Rapid testing in schools has been a top topic of late after the province stepped in and ordered a local program to stop allowing test kits meant for local businesses to wind up in the hands of local parents instead.
“We know that rapid testing is one tool in the arsenal and where it's used is really a provincial decision,” said Bruce Lauckner, Chief Administrative Officer, Region of Waterloo. “So we know the province is reviewing the use of rapid antigen testing for students and we're awaiting provincial direction.”
“We understand the province is actively looking at the potential use of rapid tests in targeted higher-risk settings and we look forward to hearing more,” echoed the region's Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang.
Meantime, many people also continue to wonder about when the general public may become eligible for a third dose, or booster shot, of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Wang says the current science shows there is a small subset of the population which would benefit from a third dose (i.e. those most vulnerable to acquiring the virus and most susceptible to severe sickness), and that is who the region has been targeting to receive booster shots.
“That, at this time, remains a relatively small group of people because the evidence is showing very strong protection still for the large majority of people with a two-dose series,” Dr. Wang said. “If, over time, there is evidence that supports offering a third dose to more groups of the population than obviously we would make it available to them.”
The region says it believes anyone who is eligible for a third dose locally will have been offered one by the end of this week.
